JKCC threatens civil disobedience against GST

Srinagar, August 01, 2017 (PPI-OT):In occupied Kashmir, the Jammu and Kashmir Coordination Committee (JKCC), an umbrella organization of trade bodies and civil society groups, has warned of civil disobedience if the Goods and Services Tax (GST) is not rolled back by the puppet administration. Shakeel Qalander, a member of the JKCC, addressing a seminar in Srinagar said, “We will not pay any tax if GST is not rolled back.” The seminar titled ‘Surrender of Fiscal Autonomy and Compromise on Sovereignty through GST’ was held at Rajouri Kadal in Srinagar.

“We want the restoration of the Kashmir’s financial independence. We won’t accept its erosion,” Shakeel Qalander said. The puppet PDP-BJP regime extended the GST to Jammu and Kashmir in the first week of July, nearly a week after it was implemented in India. At the seminar, the JKCC laid out a road map for the restoration of the financial autonomy. According to its handout, the puppet administration was asked to declare Jammu and Kashmir as a free economic zone.

Former president of Kashmir Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Mubeen Shah, floated the free economic zone suggestion. President of Kashmir Traders and Manufacturers Federation, Muhammad Yaseen Khan, said that the puppet administration had never stuck to its promises on the GST.